


You Can Run (Right Back to Her)

by Ian_the_Existential_Crisis



Series: Apex Ficlets [6]
Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: But He Loves Lifeline, Canon Compliant, F/M, Family Issues, Fluff, Octane is Bad at Feelings, Secret Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:22:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23888902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ian_the_Existential_Crisis/pseuds/Ian_the_Existential_Crisis
Summary: Octane knew he loved her. But he ran from his feelings, only to come back to her again.
Relationships: Lifeline | Ajay Che/Octane | Octavio Silva
Series: Apex Ficlets [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1705861
Comments: 3
Kudos: 32





	You Can Run (Right Back to Her)

**Author's Note:**

> I love one of my mutuals on tumblr enough to not be so extra gay so I could write this. And I'm so sorry for how awful it is.

Octavio hated a lot of things about having to go to school. He hates having to wake up early in the morning. Usually at night, all of the maids were gone, so everyone left him alone. He didn't have to worry about his father hearing him halfway across the house through soundproof walls. And his stepmother of the month, usually didn't give to shots about him or if he was even alive. 

But if his grades slipped, even a little, he would never hear the end of it. He would rather suffer with having to wake up in the morning, if he even went to sleep the night before that is, than give up the freedom that he earned. Well, he didn't earn it. It was just a privilege of living his life. 

His father couldn't be bothered most of the time, unless it came to something that might reflect poorly on him. As long as he stayed in line, that small gray area of what his father didn't care about, everything was fine. He thought it was fine. 

His best friend Ajay Che didn't share the sentiment. She had grown up in a loving household. Both of her parents were proud of her no matter what. Which made her strive to be better. 

Which was weird to Octavio. He wanted to be good enough so he could stay under the radar. He didn't go out of his way to be flash and make his dad proud, and he certainly learned his lesson about being obnoxious and being bad to get attention. But Ajay, whose parents loved her no matter what, just wanted to do everything perfectly. She didn't need to be perfect so she wouldn't get scolded. She didn't need to be the best to get noticed. She just wanted to. 

Octavio would probably never admit it, out loud at least, but he was kind of jealous of her. He had been over her house before. Her parents were very nice to him. 

"Tav?" She called him. He didn't realize he had zoned out, thinking about how lucky she was, in the middle of the sidewalk. 

"Ajay." He tried to play it off with a snicker.

He couldn't fool her though. It was weird, one of the things he loved about her most, he also hated with a passion. He loved that she could see through him. She actually knew him, she could see when he was upset or overthinking. But he also hated it. He couldn't hide anything from her. He couldn't hide his feelings about his parents, he could hide his insecurities, and he was struggling like hell to try to hide his feelings about her.

"Didja not hear me?" She placed a hand on her hip and pouted. 

"Jajaja. I must have missed it." He chuckled.

"I asked if you wanted to redo the green in your hair tonight? Since I already picked up my pink." 

He blinked at her. He really did want his hair done. And Ajay was so good at it. She told him about how she wanted to be a colorist in a salon once they finish high school. But at the same time, having her there, her fingers in his hair. It was a lot. He knew he wouldn't be able to hide it from her forever.

Against his better judgment he nodded. 

One day she was going to find out. She could read him like a book. She would find out how much he loves her and it would ruin what they have. They wouldn't be able to be best friends anymore. She wouldn't be able to be the person who comforted him every time his dad got remarried. She wouldn't be the one stopping him from doing the dumbest stunts imaginable. Because she would know. And she would push him away. 

So until he was a better man, he would ignore the part of him that loved her. He would fold it down into the deepest part of him and hope that he could not only hide it from her, but from himself. 

\----

In the end he ran away from her. 

He had concealed himself through their teenage years, but after it got harder. After high school she changed. Ajay found out about the shady parts of her family. She, being the wonderful and beautiful soul that she was, decided that she would repent for their sins. She threw away her dreams at becoming a stylist away for the sake of helping others. 

How could he not fall even more in love with her? She will, her determination. She was so powerful and amazing. Everything that he felt like he wasn't. He had been there when she stormed out on her parents. He had seen her anger. The spark that lit up her eyes and a new passion filled her. 

So he ran away from her. From his feelings. But first he hurt her. He used her to get new legs. He hadn't been trying to blow his off, it just kinda happened along the way. He lied to her, hoping that it would somehow fill the emptiness inside him. 

But it didn't. It never would. Nothing ever did. Drugs, they made him forget for a while, but he always saw her face in the back of his mind. The way she would shake her head at him, disappointed in his life choices. So no, drugs didn't do it. Neither did risking his life for stupid stunts. 

That's how he ended up at the Apex games. That's how he met her again. Same pink hair, same freckles smile. Those eyes that burned with an intense determination. 

Everything he loved about her stood in front of him as he walked abroad the drop ship. He wasn't surprised when she folded her arms and frowned at him.

"Heard ya blew off your nose." 

It was the first thing she had said to him in four years. Something so serious, with her stern face, but he just wanted to laugh. Had he made her worry this whole time? 

"Just ripped out the nose ring. My whole nose is still there."

"Good." She said, turning from him. "I'll be the one to blow it off in your first match."

He wanted to laugh again. The threat was just so… her. She was going to pay him back a hundredfold for all the worry he caused her. And he didn't doubt her words for a second. 

"Damn, I just love you so much."

He couldn't hide it. She may not have heard him mumbling as she vanished from sight. But she would find out eventually, if she didn't already know. Hopeful, he could be man enough to actually face her this time.


End file.
